Leonardo DiCaprio to Play Woodrow Wilson in Film Based on Progressive-Friendly Biography

Leonardo DiCaprio addresses his liberal leanings via projects like his 2007 documentary The 11th Hour, an alarmist film about the environmental disasters awaiting us. The star’s other film projects (The Great Gatsby, The Departed) generally lean toward mainstream entertainment.

Warner Bros. is in early negotiations to pick up the rights to Wilson, the just-released biography of the 28th president by A. Scott Berg. Leonardo DiCaprio, who is attached to star as Wilson, will also produce the adaptation with Appian Way’s Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Berg.

The film’s liberal biases are built into the source material, and it’s hard to imagine DiCaprio and company stripping them out during the production.

Berg offers up a heroic, larger-than-life Wilson, emphasizing his progressive achievements like the creation of the Federal Reserve and his crusade in support of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations while downplaying his weak record on civil liberties and civil rights for African Americans.